Ue capability constraint indications for high order modulation

ABSTRACT

Methods, systems, and devices for wireless communications are described that provide for a user equipment (UE) capability indication that indicates one or more constraints associated with a supported modulation order. In some cases, the UE capability indication may indicate that the UE supports a particular modulation order, but has a capacity constraint such that an associated data rate is limited to a data rate associated with a lower modulation order. In some cases, one or more frequency bands may be mapped to a UE constraint.

CROSS REFERENCES

The present application for patent is a Continuation of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 16/129,564 by GAAL et al., entitled “UE CAPABILITYCONSTRAINTS INDICATIONS FOR HIGH ORDER MODULATION” filed Sep. 12, 2018,which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No.62/558,329 by GAAL et al., entitled “UE CAPABILITY CONSTRAINTINDICATIONS FOR HIGH ORDER MODULATION,” filed Sep. 13, 2017, assigned tothe assignee hereof, and expressly incorporated by reference herein.

BACKGROUND

The present disclosure relates generally to wireless communication, andmore specifically to UE capability constraint indications for high ordermodulation.

Wireless communications systems are widely deployed to provide varioustypes of communication content such as voice, video, packet data,messaging, broadcast, and so on. These systems may be capable ofsupporting communication with multiple users by sharing the availablesystem resources (e.g., time, frequency, and power). Examples of suchmultiple-access systems include fourth generation (4G) systems such as aLong Term Evolution (LTE) systems or LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) systems, andfifth generation (5G) systems which may be referred to as New Radio (NR)systems. These systems may employ technologies such as code divisionmultiple access (CDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA), frequencydivision multiple access (FDMA), orthogonal frequency division multipleaccess (OFDMA), or discrete Fourier transform-spread-OFDM (DFT-S-OFDM).A wireless multiple-access communications system may include a number ofbase stations or network access nodes, each simultaneously supportingcommunication for multiple communication devices, which may be otherwiseknown as user equipment (UE).

SUMMARY

The described techniques relate to improved methods, systems, devices,or apparatuses that support UE capability constraint indications forhigh order modulation. Generally, the described techniques provide for auser equipment (UE) capability indication that indicates one or moreconstraints associated with a supported modulation order. In some cases,the UE capability indication may indicate that the UE supports aparticular modulation order (e.g., 256QAM), but has a capacityconstraint such that an associated data rate is limited to a data rateassociated with a lower modulation order (e.g., 64QAM). In someexamples, one or more frequency bands may be mapped to a UE capabilityindication, in which one or more frequency bands or combinations offrequency bands may support a first transport block size (TBS), and oneor more other frequency bands or combinations of frequency bands maysupport a second TBS that is smaller than the first TBS. In some cases,the capability indication may indicate that the UE supports a firstmodulation order for all frequency bands or combinations of frequencybands, with each frequency band or combination of frequency bandsconstrained to a maximum TBS of a lower modulation order. In some cases,rate matching and soft buffer size may be determined according to eitherthe higher modulation order or the lower modulation order.

A method of wireless communication is described. The method may includeidentifying a capability of a UE to support communications that aremodulated at a first modulation order, determining a UE radio accesscapability parameter that indicates the first modulation order issupported by the UE and that indicates one or more constraints of the UEfor communications modulated at the first modulation order, andtransmitting the UE radio access capability parameter to a base station.

An apparatus for wireless communication is described. The apparatus mayinclude means for identifying a capability of a UE to supportcommunications that are modulated at a first modulation order, means fordetermining a UE radio access capability parameter that indicates thefirst modulation order is supported by the UE and that indicates one ormore constraints of the UE for communications modulated at the firstmodulation order, and means for transmitting the UE radio accesscapability parameter to a base station.

Another apparatus for wireless communication is described. The apparatusmay include a processor, memory in electronic communication with theprocessor, and instructions stored in the memory. The instructions maybe operable to cause the processor to identify a capability of a UE tosupport communications that are modulated at a first modulation order,determine a UE radio access capability parameter that indicates thefirst modulation order is supported by the UE and that indicates one ormore constraints of the UE for communications modulated at the firstmodulation order, and transmit the UE radio access capability parameterto a base station.

A non-transitory computer readable medium for wireless communication isdescribed. The non-transitory computer-readable medium may includeinstructions operable to cause a processor to identify a capability of aUE to support communications that are modulated at a first modulationorder, determine a UE radio access capability parameter that indicatesthe first modulation order is supported by the UE and that indicates theone or more constraints of the UE for communications modulated at thefirst modulation order, and transmit the UE radio access capabilityparameter to a base station.

Some examples of the method, apparatus, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described herein may further include processes,features, means, or instructions for the UE radio access capabilityparameter indicating the one or more constraints of the UE on one ormore frequency bands or combinations of frequency bands.

Some examples of the method, apparatus, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described herein may further include processes,features, means, or instructions for identifying, based at least in parton the one or more constraints of the UE, a first transmission blocksize (TBS) associated with a second modulation order, the secondmodulation order being a lower modulation order than the firstmodulation order.

Some examples of the method, apparatus, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described herein may further include processes,features, means, or instructions for receiving a downlink transmissionthat may be modulated at the first modulation order. Some examples ofthe method, apparatus, and non-transitory computer-readable mediumdescribed herein may further include processes, features, means, orinstructions for demodulating the downlink transmission according to thefirst modulation order. Some examples of the method, apparatus, andnon-transitory computer-readable medium described herein may furtherinclude processes, features, means, or instructions for decoding thedemodulated downlink transmission based at least in part on the one ormore constraints of the UE.

In some examples of the method, apparatus, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described herein, the decoding furthercomprises identifying a first TBS associated with a second modulationorder based at least in part on the one or more constraints of the UE,the second modulation order being a lower modulation order than thefirst modulation order. Some examples of the method, apparatus, andnon-transitory computer-readable medium described herein may furtherinclude processes, features, means, or instructions for decoding thedemodulated downlink transmission based at least in part on the firstTBS. In some examples of the method, apparatus, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described herein, the first modulation ordermay be 256QAM and the second modulation order may be 64QAM.

Some examples of the method, apparatus, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described herein may further include processes,features, means, or instructions for encoding an uplink transmissionusing a data rate that may be based at least in part on the one or moreconstraints of the UE for communications at the first modulation order.Some examples of the method, apparatus, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described herein may further include processes,features, means, or instructions for modulating the uplink transmissionaccording to the first modulation order. Some examples of the method,apparatus, and non-transitory computer-readable medium described hereinmay further include processes, features, means, or instructions fortransmitting the uplink transmission to the base station.

In some examples of the method, apparatus, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described herein, the encoding furthercomprises identifying a first TBS associated with a second modulationorder based at least in part on the one or more constraints of the UE,the second modulation order being a lower modulation order than thefirst modulation order. Some examples of the method, apparatus, andnon-transitory computer-readable medium described herein may furtherinclude processes, features, means, or instructions for encoding theuplink transmission based at least in part on the first TBS. In someexamples of the method, apparatus, and non-transitory computer-readablemedium described herein, the first modulation order may be 256QAM andthe second modulation order may be 64QAM.

In some examples of the method, apparatus, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described herein, the one or more constraintsindicate that a transport block size associated with a second modulationorder may be used for communications with the UE that may be modulatedat the first modulation order for all frequency bands and combinationsof frequency bands supported by the UE.

In some examples of the method, apparatus, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described herein, the one or more constraintsindicate that for a first frequency band, a TB S of a second modulationorder may be used for communications with the UE that may be modulatedat the first modulation order, and for a second frequency band, a TBS ofthe first modulation order may be used for communications with the UEthat may be modulated at the first modulation order.

In some examples of the method, apparatus, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described herein, the first frequency band maybe a millimeter wave frequency band, and the second frequency band maybe a lower frequency band than the first frequency band.

Some examples of the method, apparatus, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described herein may further include processes,features, means, or instructions for rating matching a number of bitsmodulated using the first modulation order within a TBS to a number ofbits that can be sent in a resource allocation based at least in part ona first rate matching associated with the first modulation order. Someexamples of the method, apparatus, and non-transitory computer-readablemedium described herein may further include processes, features, means,or instructions for rating matching a number of bits modulated using thefirst modulation order within a TBS to a number of bits that can be sentin a resource allocation based at least in part on a second ratematching associated with a lower modulation order than the firstmodulation order.

Some examples of the method, apparatus, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described herein may further include processes,features, means, or instructions for setting a soft buffer size based atleast in part on the first modulation order. Some examples of themethod, apparatus, and non-transitory computer-readable medium describedherein may further include processes, features, means, or instructionsfor setting a soft buffer size based at least in part on a lowermodulation order than the first modulation order, based at least in parton the one or more constraints of the UE.

A method of wireless communication is described. The method may includereceiving from a UE, at a base station, a UE radio access capabilityparameter that indicates a capability of the UE to supportcommunications that are modulated at a first modulation order and one ormore constraints of the UE for communications that are modulated at thefirst modulation order, encoding a downlink transmission using a datarate that is based at least in part on the one or more constraints ofthe UE for communications at the first modulation order, modulating thedownlink transmission according to the first modulation order, andtransmitting the downlink transmission to the UE.

An apparatus for wireless communication is described. The apparatus mayinclude means for receiving from a UE, at a base station, a UE radioaccess capability parameter that indicates a capability of the UE tosupport communications that are modulated at a first modulation orderand one or more constraints of the UE for communications that aremodulated at the first modulation order, means for encoding a downlinktransmission using a data rate that is based at least in part on the oneor more constraints of the UE for communications at the first modulationorder, means for modulating the downlink transmission according to thefirst modulation order, and means for transmitting the downlinktransmission to the UE.

Another apparatus for wireless communication is described. The apparatusmay include a processor, memory in electronic communication with theprocessor, and instructions stored in the memory. The instructions maybe operable to cause the processor to receive from a UE, at a basestation, a UE radio access capability parameter that indicates acapability of the UE to support communications that are modulated at afirst modulation order and one or more constraints of the UE forcommunications that are modulated at the first modulation order, encodea downlink transmission using a data rate that is based at least in parton the one or more constraints of the UE for communications at the firstmodulation order, modulate the downlink transmission according to thefirst modulation order, and transmit the downlink transmission to theUE.

A non-transitory computer readable medium for wireless communication isdescribed. The non-transitory computer-readable medium may includeinstructions operable to cause a processor to receive from a UE, at abase station, a UE radio access capability parameter that indicates acapability of the UE to support communications that are modulated at afirst modulation order and one or more constraints of the UE forcommunications that are modulated at the first modulation order, encodea downlink transmission using a data rate that is based at least in parton the one or more constraints of the UE for communications at the firstmodulation order, modulate the downlink transmission according to thefirst modulation order, and transmit the downlink transmission to theUE.

In some examples of the method, apparatus, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described herein, the encoding furthercomprises identifying a first TBS associated with a second modulationorder based at least in part on the one or more constraints of the UE,the second modulation order being a lower modulation order than thefirst modulation order. Some examples of the method, apparatus, andnon-transitory computer-readable medium described herein may furtherinclude processes, features, means, or instructions for encoding thedownlink transmission based at least in part on the first TBS. In someexamples of the method, apparatus, and non-transitory computer-readablemedium described herein, the first modulation order may be 256QAM andthe second modulation order may be 64QAM.

Some examples of the method, apparatus, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described herein may further include processes,features, means, or instructions for receiving an uplink transmissionthat may be modulated at the first modulation order. Some examples ofthe method, apparatus, and non-transitory computer-readable mediumdescribed herein may further include processes, features, means, orinstructions for demodulating the uplink transmission according to thefirst modulation order. Some examples of the method, apparatus, andnon-transitory computer-readable medium described herein may furtherinclude processes, features, means, or instructions for decoding thedemodulated uplink transmission based at least in part on the one ormore constraints of the UE.

In some examples of the method, apparatus, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described herein, the decoding furthercomprises identifying a first TBS associated with a second modulationorder based at least in part on the one or more constraints of the UE,the second modulation order being a lower modulation order than thefirst modulation order. Some examples of the method, apparatus, andnon-transitory computer-readable medium described herein may furtherinclude processes, features, means, or instructions for decoding thedemodulated uplink transmission based at least in part on the first TBS.

In some examples of the method, apparatus, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described herein, the one or more constraintsindicate that a transport block size associated with a second modulationorder may be used for communications with the UE that may be modulatedat the first modulation order. In some examples of the method,apparatus, and non-transitory computer-readable medium described herein,the one or more constraints indicate that for a first frequency band, aTBS of a second modulation order may be used for communications with theUE that may be modulated at the first modulation order, and for a secondfrequency band, a TBS of the first modulation order may be used forcommunications with the UE that may be modulated at the first modulationorder. In some examples of the method, apparatus, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described herein, the first frequency band maybe a millimeter wave frequency band, and the second frequency band maybe a lower frequency band than the first frequency band.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a system for wireless communicationthat supports UE capability constraint indications for high ordermodulation in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example of a wireless communications system thatsupports UE capability constraint indications for high order modulationin accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example of a process flow that supports UEcapability constraint indications for high order modulation inaccordance with aspects of the present disclosure.

FIGS. 4 through 6 show block diagrams of a device that supports UEcapability constraint indications for high order modulation inaccordance with aspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 7 illustrates a block diagram of a system including a UE thatsupports UE capability constraint indications for high order modulationin accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.

FIGS. 8 through 10 show block diagrams of a device that supports UEcapability constraint indications for high order modulation inaccordance with aspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 11 illustrates a block diagram of a system including a base stationthat supports UE capability constraint indications for high ordermodulation in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.

FIGS. 12 through 17 illustrate methods for UE capability constraintindications for high order modulation in accordance with aspects of thepresent disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Various described techniques provide for a user equipment (UE)capability indication that indicates one or more constraints associatedwith a supported modulation order. In some cases, a UE may establish aconnection using a high-band component and a low-band component that usewireless channels in different frequency bands. In some cases, thelow-band component may be in a lower frequency band than the high-bandcomponent, and may be used as an anchor carrier for the UE. In variousexamples, the high-band component may use relatively high frequencybands, such as millimeter wave (mmW) frequency bands, while the low-bandcomponent may use relatively lower frequency bands, such as frequencybands below 6 GHz (which may be referred to as Sub-6 bands).

In some systems, a UE may report its capabilities to a base station, andthe base station may configure connections and allocate resources to theUE based at least in part on the reported capabilities. In some cases,reported capabilities may include modulation orders that the UE iscapable of supporting, such as a 256QAM (or higher) modulation order.Furthermore, the UE may support communications of various differentfrequency bands or combinations of frequency bands, and if a modulationorder is supported by the UE it implies that the UE is capable ofsupporting the modulation order in each frequency band or combination offrequency bands. However, in some cases, higher frequency bands maypresent challenges to transmissions of data at maximum supported datarates of higher modulation orders.

For example, supporting a relatively high transport block size (TB S)using 256QAM in a mmW frequency band may be challenging for a UE due to,for example, a relatively high error vector magnitude (EVM) or receiveconstellation error (RCE) in higher frequency bands such as a mmWfrequency band. In such cases, in order to enhance the likelihood ofsuccessfully transmitting and receiving transmissions in higherfrequency bands, such a UE may report a modulation order capabilitybased on the highest supported frequency band. Such a UE could, in suchcases, support a higher modulation order on lower frequency bands, andthus such capability reporting may result in the UE using a lowermodulation order than it is capable of for certain frequency bands orcombinations of frequency bands.

Various aspects of the present disclosure provide techniques for UEcapability reporting that may indicate one or more constraints on one ormore supported frequency bands of combinations of frequency bands. Insome cases, a UE may report a capability for a higher modulation orderthat indicates a constraint on one or more frequency bands. In someexamples, a UE may report a modulation order capability (e.g., a“256QAM” capability) that may indicate that there are no constraints onany frequency bands or combinations of frequency bands for themodulation order, and may report a constrained modulation ordercapability (e.g., a “−256QAM” capability) that indicates constraints onone or more frequency bands or combinations of frequency bands for themodulation order. In some cases, the indication of a constrainedmodulation order capability may apply to only a subset of frequencybands or combinations of frequency bands, or may apply to all frequencybands. In some cases, an indication of a constrained capabilityindicates that a maximum TBS for transmissions using the constrainedmodulation order is limited to a maximum TBS of a lower modulation order(e.g., a maximum TBS of a 64QAM modulation order). Such a constraint onthe maximum TBS may reduce a maximum data rate for the constrainedfrequency bands, which may allow for the spectral efficiency of thehigher modulation order but reduce the EVM or RCE impacts associatedwith the higher frequency bands.

A base station that receives an indication of a constrained modulationorder at a UE may, in some cases, encode transmissions to a UE based ona lower modulation order, and modulate the transmissions to the UE atthe higher modulation order, for one or more frequency bands orcombinations of frequency bands. The UE may receive the transmission,demodulate the transmission according to the higher modulation order,and decode the transmission based on the lower modulation order.Similarly, such techniques may also be used for uplink transmissions, inwhich a UE may encode transmissions to a base station based on a lowermodulation order, and modulate the transmissions to the base station atthe higher modulation order, for one or more frequency bands orcombinations of frequency bands. The base station may receive thetransmission, demodulate the transmission according to the highermodulation order, and decode the transmission based on the lowermodulation order.

Aspects of the disclosure are initially described in the context of awireless communications system. Aspects of the disclosure are furtherillustrated by and described with reference to apparatus diagrams,system diagrams, and flowcharts that relate to UE capability constraintindications for high order modulation.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a wireless communications system 100 inaccordance with various aspects of the present disclosure. The wirelesscommunications system 100 includes base stations 105, UEs 115, and acore network 130. In some examples, the wireless communications system100 may be a Long Term Evolution (LTE) network, an LTE-Advanced (LTE-A)network, or a New Radio (NR) network. In some cases, wirelesscommunications system 100 may support enhanced broadband communications,ultra-reliable (e.g., mission critical) communications, low latencycommunications, or communications with low-cost and low-complexitydevices. Devices in wireless communications system 100 may communicateover unlicensed spectrum, which may be a portion of spectrum thatincludes frequency bands traditionally used by Wi-Fi technology (e.g.,technology using IEEE 802.11 communication protocol), such as the 5 GHzband, the 2.4 GHz band, the 60 GHz band, the 3.6 GHz band, and/or the900 MHz band. The unlicensed spectrum may also include other frequencybands.”

Base stations 105 may wirelessly communicate with UEs 115 via one ormore base station antennas. Base stations 105 described herein mayinclude or may be referred to by those skilled in the art as a basetransceiver station, a radio base station, an access point, a radiotransceiver, a NodeB, an eNodeB (eNB), a next-generation Node B orgiga-nodeB (either of which may be referred to as a gNB), a Home NodeB,a Home eNodeB, or some other suitable terminology. Wirelesscommunications system 100 may include base stations 105 of differenttypes (e.g., macro or small cell base stations). The UEs 115 describedherein may be able to communicate with various types of base stations105 and network equipment including macro eNBs, small cell eNBs, gNBs,relay base stations, and the like.

Each base station 105 may be associated with a particular geographiccoverage area 110 in which communications with various UEs 115 issupported. Each base station 105 may provide communication coverage fora respective geographic coverage area 110 via communication links 125,and communication links 125 between a base station 105 and a UE 115 mayutilize one or more carriers. Communication links 125 shown in wirelesscommunications system 100 may include uplink transmissions from a UE 115to a base station 105, or downlink transmissions, from a base station105 to a UE 115. Downlink transmissions may also be called forward linktransmissions while uplink transmissions may also be called reverse linktransmissions.

The geographic coverage area 110 for a base station 105 may be dividedinto sectors making up only a portion of the geographic coverage area110, and each sector may be associated with a cell. For example, eachbase station 105 may provide communication coverage for a macro cell, asmall cell, a hot spot, or other types of cells, or various combinationsthereof. In some examples, a base station 105 may be movable andtherefore provide communication coverage for a moving geographiccoverage area 110. In some examples, different geographic coverage areas110 associated with different technologies may overlap, and overlappinggeographic coverage areas 110 associated with different technologies maybe supported by the same base station 105 or by different base stations105. The wireless communications system 100 may include, for example, aheterogeneous LTE/LTE-A or NR network in which different types of basestations 105 provide coverage for various geographic coverage areas 110.

The term “cell” refers to a logical communication entity used forcommunication with a base station 105 (e.g., over a carrier), and may beassociated with an identifier for distinguishing neighboring cells(e.g., a physical cell identifier (PCID), a virtual cell identifier(VCID)) operating via the same or a different carrier. In some examples,a carrier may support multiple cells, and different cells may beconfigured according to different protocol types (e.g., machine-typecommunication (MTC), narrowband Internet-of-Things (NB-IoT), enhancedmobile broadband (eMBB), or others) that may provide access fordifferent types of devices. In some cases, the term “cell” may refer toa portion of a geographic coverage area 110 (e.g., a sector) over whichthe logical entity operates.

UEs 115 may be dispersed throughout the wireless communications system100, and each UE 115 may be stationary or mobile. A UE 115 may also bereferred to as a mobile device, a wireless device, a remote device, ahandheld device, or a subscriber device, or some other suitableterminology, where the “device” may also be referred to as a unit, astation, a terminal, a wireless terminal, or a client. A UE 115 may alsobe a personal electronic device such as a cellular phone, a personaldigital assistant (PDA), a tablet computer, a laptop computer, or apersonal computer. In some examples, a UE 115 may also refer to awireless local loop (WLL) station, an Internet of Things (IoT) device,an Internet of Everything (IoE) device, or an MTC device, or the like,which may be implemented in various articles such as appliances,vehicles, meters, or the like.

Base stations 105 may communicate with the core network 130 and with oneanother. For example, base stations 105 may interface with the corenetwork 130 through backhaul links 132 (e.g., via an Si or otherinterface). Base stations 105 may communicate with one another overbackhaul links 134 (e.g., via an X2 or other interface) either directly(e.g., directly between base stations 105) or indirectly (e.g., via corenetwork 130).

The core network 130 may provide user authentication, accessauthorization, tracking, Internet Protocol (IP) connectivity, and otheraccess, routing, or mobility functions. The core network 130 may be anevolved packet core (EPC), which may include at least one mobilitymanagement entity (MME), at least one serving gateway (S-GW), and atleast one Packet Data Network (PDN) gateway (P-GW). The MME may managenon-access stratum (e.g., control plane) functions such as mobility,authentication, and bearer management for UEs 115 served by basestations 105 associated with the EPC. User IP packets may be transferredthrough the S-GW, which itself may be connected to the P-GW. The P-GWmay provide IP address allocation as well as other functions. The P-GWmay be connected to the network operators IP services. The operators IPservices may include access to the Internet, Intranet(s), an IPMultimedia Subsystem (IMS), or a Packet-Switched (PS) Streaming Service.

At least some of the network devices, such as a base station 105, mayinclude subcomponents such as an access network entity, which may be anexample of an access node controller (ANC). Each access network entitymay communicate with UEs 115 through a number of other access networktransmission entities, which may be referred to as a radio head, a smartradio head, or a transmission/reception point (TRP). In someconfigurations, various functions of each access network entity or basestation 105 may be distributed across various network devices (e.g.,radio heads and access network controllers) or consolidated into asingle network device (e.g., a base station 105).

Wireless communications system 100 may operate using one or morefrequency bands, typically in the range of 300 MHz to 300 GHz.Generally, the region from 300 MHz to 3 GHz is known as the ultra-highfrequency (UHF) region or decimeter band, since the wavelengths rangefrom approximately one decimeter to one meter in length. UHF waves maybe blocked or redirected by buildings and environmental features.However, the waves may penetrate structures sufficiently for a macrocell to provide service to UEs 115 located indoors. Transmission of UHFwaves may be associated with smaller antennas and shorter range (e.g.,less than 100 km) compared to transmission using the smaller frequenciesand longer waves of the high frequency (HF) or very high frequency (VHF)portion of the spectrum below 300 MHz.

Wireless communications system 100 may also operate in a super highfrequency (SHF) region using frequency bands from 3 GHz to 30 GHz, alsoknown as the centimeter band. The SHF region includes bands such as the5 GHz industrial, scientific, and medical (ISM) bands, which may be usedopportunistically by devices that can tolerate interference from otherusers.

Wireless communications system 100 may also operate in an extremely highfrequency (EHF) region of the spectrum (e.g., from 30 GHz to 300 GHz),also known as the millimeter band. In some examples, wirelesscommunications system 100 may support millimeter wave (mmW)communications between UEs 115 and base stations 105, and EHF antennasof the respective devices may be even smaller and more closely spacedthan UHF antennas. In some cases, this may facilitate use of antennaarrays within a UE 115. However, the propagation of EHF transmissionsmay be subject to even greater atmospheric attenuation and shorter rangethan SHF or UHF transmissions. Techniques disclosed herein may beemployed across transmissions that use one or more different frequencyregions, and designated use of bands across these frequency regions maydiffer by country or regulating body.

In some cases, wireless communications system 100 may utilize bothlicensed and unlicensed radio frequency spectrum bands. For example,wireless communications system 100 may employ Licensed Assisted Access(LAA), LTE-Unlicensed (LTE-U) radio access technology, or NR technologyin an unlicensed band such as the 5 GHz ISM band. When operating inunlicensed radio frequency spectrum bands, wireless devices such as basestations 105 and UEs 115 may employ listen-before-talk (LBT) proceduresto ensure a frequency channel is clear before transmitting data. In somecases, operations in unlicensed bands may be based on a CA configurationin conjunction with CCs operating in a licensed band (e.g., LAA).Operations in unlicensed spectrum may include downlink transmissions,uplink transmissions, peer-to-peer transmissions, or a combination ofthese. Duplexing in unlicensed spectrum may be based on frequencydivision duplexing (FDD), time division duplexing (TDD), or acombination of both.

In some cases, wireless communications system 100 may be a packet-basednetwork that operate according to a layered protocol stack. In the userplane, communications at the bearer or Packet Data Convergence Protocol(PDCP) layer may be IP-based. A Radio Link Control (RLC) layer may insome cases perform packet segmentation and reassembly to communicateover logical channels. A Medium Access Control (MAC) layer may performpriority handling and multiplexing of logical channels into transportchannels. The MAC layer may also use hybrid automatic repeat request(HARQ) to provide retransmission at the MAC layer to improve linkefficiency. In the control plane, the Radio Resource Control (RRC)protocol layer may provide establishment, configuration, and maintenanceof an RRC connection between a UE 115 and a base station 105 or corenetwork 130 supporting radio bearers for user plane data. At thePhysical (PHY) layer, transport channels may be mapped to physicalchannels.

The term “carrier” refers to a set of radio frequency spectrum resourceshaving a defined physical layer structure for supporting communicationsover a communication link 125. For example, a carrier of a communicationlink 125 may include a portion of a radio frequency spectrum band thatis operated according to physical layer channels for a given radioaccess technology. Each physical layer channel may carry user data,control information, or other signaling. A carrier may be associatedwith a pre-defined frequency channel (e.g., an E-UTRA absolute radiofrequency channel number (EARFCN)), and may be positioned according to achannel raster for discovery by UEs 115. Carriers may be downlink oruplink (e.g., in an FDD mode), or be configured to carry downlink anduplink communications (e.g., in a TDD mode). In some examples, signalwaveforms transmitted over a carrier may be made up of multiplesub-carriers (e.g., using multi-carrier modulation (MCM) techniques suchas OFDM or DFT-s-OFDM).

The organizational structure of the carriers may be different fordifferent radio access technologies (e.g., LTE, LTE-A, NR, etc.). Forexample, communications over a carrier may be organized according totransmission time intervals (TTIs) or slots, each of which may includeuser data as well as control information or signaling to supportdecoding the user data. A carrier may also include dedicated acquisitionsignaling (e.g., synchronization signals or system information, etc.)and control signaling that coordinates operation for the carrier. Insome examples (e.g., in a carrier aggregation configuration), a carriermay also have acquisition signaling or control signaling thatcoordinates operations for other carriers.

Physical channels may be multiplexed on a carrier according to varioustechniques. A physical control channel and a physical data channel maybe multiplexed on a downlink carrier, for example, using time divisionmultiplexing (TDM) techniques, frequency division multiplexing (FDM)techniques, or hybrid TDM-FDM techniques. In some examples, controlinformation transmitted in a physical control channel may be distributedbetween different control regions in a cascaded manner (e.g., between acommon control region or common search space and one or more UE-specificcontrol regions or UE-specific search spaces).

A carrier may be associated with a particular bandwidth of the radiofrequency spectrum, and in some examples the carrier bandwidth may bereferred to as a “system bandwidth” of the carrier or the wirelesscommunications system 100. For example, the carrier bandwidth may be oneof a number of predetermined bandwidths for carriers of a particularradio access technology (e.g., 1.4, 3, 5, 10, 15, 20, 40, or 80 MHz). Insome examples, each served UE 115 may be configured for operating overportions or all of the carrier bandwidth. In other examples, some UEs115 may be configured for operation using a narrowband protocol typethat is associated with a predefined portion or range (e.g., set ofsubcarriers or RBs) within a carrier (e.g., “in-band” deployment of anarrowband protocol type).

Devices of the wireless communications system 100 (e.g., base stations105 or UEs 115) may have a hardware configuration that supportscommunications over a particular carrier bandwidth, or may beconfigurable to support communications over one of a set of carrierbandwidths. In some examples, the wireless communications system 100 mayinclude base stations 105 and/or UEs that can support simultaneouscommunications via carriers associated with more than one differentcarrier bandwidth.

Wireless communications system 100 may support communication with a UE115 on multiple cells or carriers, a feature which may be referred to ascarrier aggregation (CA) or multi-carrier operation. A UE 115 may beconfigured with multiple downlink CCs and one or more uplink CCsaccording to a carrier aggregation configuration. Carrier aggregationmay be used with both FDD and TDD component carriers.

In some cases, wireless communications system 100 may utilize enhancedcomponent carriers (eCCs). An eCC may be characterized by one or morefeatures including wider carrier or frequency channel bandwidth, shortersymbol duration, shorter TTI duration, or modified control channelconfiguration. In some cases, an eCC may be associated with a carrieraggregation configuration or a dual connectivity configuration (e.g.,when multiple serving cells have a suboptimal or non-ideal backhaullink). An eCC may also be configured for use in unlicensed spectrum orshared spectrum (e.g., where more than one operator is allowed to usethe spectrum). An eCC characterized by wide carrier bandwidth mayinclude one or more segments that may be utilized by UEs 115 that arenot capable of monitoring the whole carrier bandwidth or are otherwiseconfigured to use a limited carrier bandwidth (e.g., to conserve power).

In some cases, an eCC may utilize a different symbol duration than otherCCs, which may include use of a reduced symbol duration as compared withsymbol durations of the other CCs. A shorter symbol duration may beassociated with increased spacing between adjacent subcarriers. Adevice, such as a UE 115 or base station 105, utilizing eCCs maytransmit wideband signals (e.g., according to frequency channel orcarrier bandwidths of 20, 40, 60, 80 MHz, etc.) at reduced symboldurations (e.g., 16.67 microseconds). A TTI in eCC may consist of one ormultiple symbol periods. In some cases, the TTI duration (that is, thenumber of symbol periods in a TTI) may be variable.

Wireless communications systems such as an NR system may utilize anycombination of licensed, shared, and unlicensed spectrum bands, amongothers. The flexibility of eCC symbol duration and subcarrier spacingmay allow for the use of eCC across multiple spectrums. In someexamples, NR shared spectrum may increase spectrum utilization andspectral efficiency, specifically through dynamic vertical (e.g., acrossfrequency) and horizontal (e.g., across time) sharing of resources.

In some examples, each served UE 115 may be configured for operatingover portions or all of the carrier bandwidth. In some examples, someUEs 115 may report a UE capability that includes a UE 115 modulationorder capability. In some cases, some UEs 115 may report a UE capabilitythat indicates one or more constraints associated with a supportedmodulation order. In some cases, the UE capability indication mayindicate that the UE 115 supports a particular modulation order (e.g.,256QAM), but has a capacity constraint such that an associated data rateis limited to a data rate associated with a lower modulation order(e.g., 64QAM).

FIG. 2 illustrates an example of a wireless communications system 200that supports UE capability constraint indications for high ordermodulation in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure.In some examples, wireless communications system 200 may implementaspects of wireless communications system 100. In the example of FIG. 2,the wireless communications system 200 may include a base station 105,which may be an example of base stations 105 of FIG. 1. The wirelesscommunications system 200 may also include a UE 115, which may be anexample of UEs 115 of FIG. 1.

In this example, the base station 105-a may have a geographic coveragearea 205, and may establish a first connection 210 with the UE 115-a anda second connection 215 with the UE 115-a. In some cases, the firstconnection 210 may be an anchor carrier that uses a Sub-6 frequencies,and the second connection 215 may be a high-band connection usingbeamformed mmW frequencies. Of course, other examples may use differentfrequency bands, combinations of frequency bands, combinations ofcarriers, or combinations thereof. As indicated above, in some cases,supporting a relatively high TBS using higher order modulation (e.g.,256QAM) in a higher frequency second connection 215 (e.g., a mmWfrequency band connection) may be challenging for the UE 115-a due to,for example, a relatively high EVM or RCE in the higher frequency band.In such cases, in order to enhance the likelihood of successfullytransmitting and receiving transmissions on the second connection 215,the UE 115-a may report a modulation order capability, and may alsoindicate one or more constraints associated with the modulation ordercapability.

In some cases, the UE 115-a may report a capability for a highermodulation order that indicates a constraint on one or more frequencybands. For example, the UE may report a 256QAM modulation ordercapability (or any higher order modulation capability, such as 1024QAM,for example) that may indicate that there are no constraints on anyfrequency bands or combinations of frequency bands for the modulationorder. In some cases, such a modulation order capability may correspondto indicating a “256QAM” capability in a UE capability report. In caseswhere the UE 115-a may have constraints on higher modulation orders, theUE 115-a may report a constrained modulation order capability such as,for example, a “−256QAM” capability (or a “−1024QAM capability, forexample) that indicates constraints on one or more frequency bands orcombinations of frequency bands for the supported modulation order.

In some cases, the indication of a constrained modulation ordercapability may apply to only a subset of frequency bands or combinationsof frequency bands, or may apply to all frequency bands. In some cases,an indication of a constrained capability indicates that a maximum TBSfor transmissions using the constrained modulation order is limited to amaximum TBS of a lower modulation order (e.g., a maximum TBS of a 64QAMmodulation order). Such a constraint on the maximum TBS may reduce amaximum data rate for the constrained frequency bands (e.g., mmWfrequency bands), which may allow for the spectral efficiency of thehigher modulation order but reduce the EVM or RCE impacts associatedwith the higher frequency bands.

The base station 105-a, upon receiving the indication of a constrainedmodulation order may encode downlink transmissions to the UE 115-atransmitted in the second connection 215 based on the lower modulationorder (e.g., based on a TBS table for 64QAM), and modulate thetransmissions to the UE 115-a at the higher modulation order (e.g.,256QAM). The UE 115-a may receive the transmission, demodulate thetransmission according to the higher modulation order, and decode thetransmission based on the lower modulation order. Similarly, suchtechniques may also be used for uplink transmissions, in which the UE115-a may encode transmissions to the base station 105-a based on alower modulation order, and modulate the transmissions to the basestation 105-a at the higher modulation order, for one or more frequencybands or combinations of frequency bands.

In some examples, one or more frequency bands may be mapped to a UEcapability indication, in which one or more frequency bands orcombinations of frequency bands may support the TBS based on the highermodulation order, and one or more other frequency bands or combinationsof frequency bands may support a second TBS that is smaller than thefirst TBS. For example, if UE 115-a reports a “−256QAM” capability, thebase station 105-a may modulate downlink transmissions on the firstconnection 210 using 256QAM and encode data based on a TBS table for256QAM. The base station 105-a in such a case may modulate downlinktransmissions on the second connection 215 using 256QAM and encode databased on a TBS table for 64QAM. In some cases, such a mapping may bespecified for the constrained capability indication. In other cases, thecapability indication may indicate that the UE supports a firstmodulation order for all frequency bands or combinations of frequencybands, with each frequency band or combination of frequency bandsconstrained to a maximum TB S of a lower modulation order. In somecases, rate matching and soft buffer size may be determined according toeither the higher modulation order or the lower modulation order.

Such techniques allow modulation of transmissions according to thehigher modulation order, thus providing enhanced spectral efficiency,while also constraining a data rate on certain frequency bands toenhance the likelihood of the receiver successfully receiving the higherfrequency band transmission. In some cases, an additional UE capabilitymay be specified in a standard, and may add such a constrained UEcapability without an impact of a UE category definition. In some cases,the total number of soft channel bits for a UE category is independentof such an additional UE capability that may be reported.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example of a process flow 300 that supports UEcapability constraint indications for high order modulation inaccordance with various aspects of the present disclosure. In someexamples, process flow 300 may implement aspects of wirelesscommunications system 100. Process flow 300 may include a base station105-b, and a UE 115-b, which may be examples of the correspondingdevices described with reference to FIG. 1-2.

At block 305, the UE 115-b may format a capability report that is to betransmitted to the base station 105-b. In some cases, the capabilityreport may indicate a number of different capabilities of the UE 115-b.The UE 115-b, in some cases, may report a UE capability that indicates asupported modulation order, and in some cases the indication of thesupported modulation order may also indicate one or more constraints forone or more frequency bands or combinations of frequency bands fortransmissions at the indicated modulation order. In some examples, whenthe UE 115-b is unconstrained, it may report a UE capability thatindicates the UE 115-b supports a 256QAM modulation order, which mayindicate that the UE 115-b supports all TB sizes that may be associatedwith 256QAM modulation. In cases where the UE 115-b is unable toreliably support higher data rates for the modulation order, the UE115-b may report a UE capability of “−256QAM” that may indicateconstraints on 256QAM transmissions for one or more frequency bands.

The UE 115-b may transmit a capability report transmission 310 to thebase station 105-b. In some cases, the capability report transmission310 may be transmitted in a radio resource control (RRC) message thatincludes a UE Capability Information radio message. In some cases, thetotal number of soft channel bits for a UE category is independent ofsuch an additional UE capability that may be reported.

The base station 105-b may receive the capability report transmissionand may, at block 315, determine UE 115-b capabilities and capabilityconstraints. For example, the base station 105-b may receive themodulation order indication that indicates a constrained modulationorder (e.g., a “−256QAM” modulation order support indication). The basestation 105-b may determine one or more frequency bands or combinationsof frequency bands that are constrained based at least in part on thecapability report transmission. In some cases, the UE 115-b may declareits constrained capability per frequency band or combination offrequency bands. In some cases, a data rate (e.g., maximum TBS size) forall frequency bands or combinations of frequency bands may beconstrained if the UE 115-b report a constrained modulation order. Inother cases the data rate may be constrained for a subset of frequencybands or combinations of frequency bands. In some cases, the subset ofconstrained frequency bands or combinations of frequency bands may bemapped to certain modulation orders. Such mapping may be specified in astandard, or may be communicated by the base station 105-b in controlinformation.

At block 320, the base station 105-b may determine a modulation orderfor a downlink transmission. The modulation order may be determinedbased on the modulation orders that the UE 115-b is capable ofsupporting, for example. In some cases, the modulation order for adownlink transmission may be determined for each of one or more carriersor connections between the UE 115-b and the base station 105-b, such asfor a low-band connection, a high-band connection, or any combinationsthereof.

At block 325, the base station 105-b may determine an encoding data ratefor the downlink transmission. The base station 105-b may determine theencoding data rate based at least in part on an indication of aconstrained data rate from the UE 115-b, and a data rate table (e.g., aTBS table) for the determined modulation order, for example. In somecases, the encoding data rate may be selected based on a differentmodulation order than the modulation order that was determined for thedownlink transmission. For example, if the UE 115-b indicates a“−256QAM” modulation order is supported, the base station 105-b mayselect a TBS for the downlink transmission based on a 64QAM TBS tablewhen the downlink transmission uses a 256QAM modulation order. In caseswhere the data rate is constrained based on a frequency band orcombination of frequency bands of the downlink transmission, the basestation 105-b may further select the encoding data rate based at leastin part on a frequency band or combination of frequency bands of thedownlink transmission.

At block 330, the base station 105-b may modulate and encode thedownlink transmission. Such modulation and encoding may be performedusing established modulation and encoding techniques. In some cases, thebase station 105-b may perform rate matching to rate match a number ofbits modulated using the first modulation order within a TB to a numberof bits that can be sent in a resource allocation. In some cases, therate matching may be based on the modulation order of the downlinktransmission. In other cases, the rate matching may be based on themodulation order used for determining the encoding rate for the downlinktransmission.

The base station 105-b, following the encoding and modulation of thedownlink transmission, may transmit the downlink transmission 335 to theUE 115-b. The downlink transmission may be transmitted using a frequencyband, or combination of frequency bands, that are supported by the UE115-b.

At block 340, the UE 115-b may determine the modulation order of thedownlink transmission. In some cases, the modulation order may bedetermined based at least in part on the reported UE capability. In somecases, the modulation order may be identified in a control transmissionassociated with the downlink transmission 335.

At block 345, the UE 115-b may determine an encoding data rate based onthe UE capability constraint. In some cases, as discussed above, theencoding data rate may be determined based on a modulation order that islower than the modulation order used for the downlink transmission. Insome cases, the encoding data rate may be determined based at least inpart on a TBS table associated with a lower modulation order (e.g., a64QAM TBS table) than the modulation order (e.g., 256QAM) used for thedownlink transmission 335.

At block 350, the UE 115-b may demodulate and decode the downlinktransmission. The demodulation and decoding of the downlink transmissionmay be performed using established demodulation and decoding techniques.In some cases, the UE 115-b may set a soft buffer size based on themodulation order of the downlink transmission. In other cases, the softbuffer size may be based on the modulation order used for determiningthe encoding rate for the downlink transmission.

While the example of FIG. 3 shows a downlink transmission that ismodulated and encoded according to a supported modulation order andmodulation order constraint of the UE 115-b, similar techniques may beused for uplink transmissions from the UE 115-b to the base station105-b. In such cases, the UE 115-b may select the modulation order andencoding data rate based at least in part on the constrained modulationorder indicated by the UE 115-b, and may transmit the uplinktransmission. The base station 105-b may receive such an uplinktransmission and demodulate and decode the transmission based on theindicated constrained modulation order, using the higher modulationorder and encoding rate based on a lower modulation order.

FIG. 4 shows a block diagram 400 of a wireless device 405 that supportsuser equipment (UE) capability constraint indications for high ordermodulation in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.Wireless device 405 may be an example of aspects of a UE 115 asdescribed herein. Wireless device 405 may include receiver 410, UEcommunications manager 415, and transmitter 420. Wireless device 405 mayalso include a one or more processors, memory coupled with the one ormore processors, and instructions stored in the memory that areexecutable by the one or more processors to enable the one or moreprocessors to perform the UE capability constraint indications for highorder modulation discussed herein. Each of these components may be incommunication with one another (e.g., via one or more buses).

Receiver 410 may receive information such as packets, user data, orcontrol information associated with various information channels (e.g.,control channels, data channels, and information related to UEcapability constraint indications for high order modulation, etc.).Information may be passed on to other components of the device. Thereceiver 410 may be an example of aspects of the transceiver 735described with reference to FIG. 7. The receiver 410 may utilize asingle antenna or a set of antennas.

Receiver 410 may receive a downlink transmission that is modulated atthe first modulation order.

UE communications manager 415 may be an example of aspects of the UEcommunications manager 715 described with reference to FIG. 7.

UE communications manager 415 and/or at least some of its varioussub-components may be implemented in hardware, software executed by aprocessor, firmware, or any combination thereof. If implemented insoftware executed by a processor, the functions of the UE communicationsmanager 415 and/or at least some of its various sub-components may beexecuted by a general-purpose processor, a digital signal processor(DSP), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), anfield-programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device,discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or anycombination thereof designed to perform the functions described in thepresent disclosure. The UE communications manager 415 and/or at leastsome of its various sub-components may be physically located at variouspositions, including being distributed such that portions of functionsare implemented at different physical locations by one or more physicaldevices. In some examples, UE communications manager 415 and/or at leastsome of its various sub-components may be a separate and distinctcomponent in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure.In other examples, UE communications manager 415 and/or at least some ofits various sub-components may be combined with one or more otherhardware components, including but not limited to an I/O component, atransceiver, a network server, another computing device, one or moreother components described in the present disclosure, or a combinationthereof in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure.

UE communications manager 415 may identify a capability of a UE tosupport communications that are modulated at a first modulation order,determine one or more constraints of the UE for communications that aremodulated at the first modulation order, and set a UE radio accesscapability parameter that indicates the first modulation order issupported by the UE and that indicates the one or more constraints ofthe UE for communications modulated at the first modulation order.

Transmitter 420 may transmit signals generated by other components ofthe device. In some examples, the transmitter 420 may be collocated witha receiver 410 in a transceiver module. For example, the transmitter 420may be an example of aspects of the transceiver 735 described withreference to FIG. 7. The transmitter 420 may utilize a single antenna ora set of antennas.

Transmitter 420 may transmit the UE radio access capability parameter toa base station and transmit the uplink transmission to the base station.

FIG. 5 shows a block diagram 500 of a wireless device 505 that supportsUE capability constraint indications for high order modulation inaccordance with aspects of the present disclosure. Wireless device 505may be an example of aspects of a wireless device 405 or a UE 115 asdescribed with reference to FIG. 4. Wireless device 505 may includereceiver 510, UE communications manager 515, and transmitter 520.Wireless device 505 may also include a processor. Each of thesecomponents may be in communication with one another (e.g., via one ormore buses).

Receiver 510 may receive information such as packets, user data, orcontrol information associated with various information channels (e.g.,control channels, data channels, and information related to UEcapability constraint indications for high order modulation, etc.).Information may be passed on to other components of the device. Thereceiver 510 may be an example of aspects of the transceiver 735described with reference to FIG. 7. The receiver 510 may utilize asingle antenna or a set of antennas.

UE communications manager 515 may be an example of aspects of the UEcommunications manager 715 described with reference to FIG. 7. UEcommunications manager 515 may also include capability identificationcomponent 525 and capability constraint component 530.

Capability identification component 525 may identify a capability of aUE to support communications that are modulated at a first modulationorder and set a UE radio access capability parameter that indicates thefirst modulation order is supported by the UE and that indicates the oneor more constraints of the UE for communications modulated at the firstmodulation order. Capability identification component 525 may be aprocessor (e.g., a transceiver processor, or a radio processor, or areceiver processor). The processor may be coupled with memory andexecute instructions stored in the memory that enable the processor toperform or facilitate the features discussed herein.

Capability constraint component 530 may identify one or more constraintsof the UE for communications that are modulated at the first modulationorder. In some cases, the one or more constraints indicate that atransport block size associated with a second modulation order is to beused for communications with the UE that are modulated at the firstmodulation order. In some cases, the constraint may apply to allfrequency bands and combinations of frequency bands supported by the UE.In some cases, the one or more constraints indicate that for a firstfrequency band, a TBS of a second modulation order is to be used forcommunications with the UE that are modulated at the first modulationorder; and for a second frequency band, a TBS of the first modulationorder is to be used for communications with the UE that are modulated atthe first modulation order. In some cases, the first frequency band is amillimeter wave frequency band, and the second frequency band is a lowerfrequency band than the first frequency band. Capability constraintcomponent 530 may be a processor (e.g., a transceiver processor, or aradio processor, or a receiver processor). The processor may be coupledwith memory and execute instructions stored in the memory that enablethe processor to perform or facilitate the features discussed herein.

Transmitter 520 may transmit signals generated by other components ofthe device. In some examples, the transmitter 520 may be collocated witha receiver 510 in a transceiver module. For example, the transmitter 520may be an example of aspects of the transceiver 735 described withreference to FIG. 7. The transmitter 520 may utilize a single antenna ora set of antennas.

FIG. 6 shows a block diagram 600 of a UE communications manager 615 thatsupports UE capability constraint indications for high order modulationin accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. The UEcommunications manager 615 may be an example of aspects of a UEcommunications manager 415, a UE communications manager 515, or a UEcommunications manager 715 described with reference to FIGS. 4, 5, and7. The UE communications manager 615 may include capabilityidentification component 620, capability constraint component 625,demodulation component 630, decoding component 635, TBS identificationcomponent 640, encoding component 645, modulation component 650, ratematching component 655, and soft buffer manager 660. The UEcommunications manager 615 may include one or more processors, memorycoupled with the one or more processors, and instructions stored in thememory that are executable by the one or more processors to enable theone or more processors to perform the features discussed herein. Each ofthese components may be in communication with each other. Each of thesemodules may communicate, directly or indirectly, with one another (e.g.,via one or more buses).

Capability identification component 620 may identify a capability of aUE to support communications that are modulated at a first modulationorder and set a UE radio access capability parameter that indicates thefirst modulation order is supported by the UE and that indicates the oneor more constraints of the UE for communications modulated at the firstmodulation order. The processor may implement some or all of theoperations of the capability identification component 620. Capabilityidentification component 620 may be a processor (e.g., a transceiverprocessor, or a radio processor, or a receiver processor). The processormay be coupled with memory and execute instructions stored in the memorythat enable the processor to perform or facilitate the capabilityidentification features discussed herein.

Capability constraint component 625 may identify one or more constraintsof the UE for communications that are modulated at the first modulationorder. In some cases, the one or more constraints indicate that atransport block size associated with a second modulation order is to beused for communications with the UE that are modulated at the firstmodulation order. In some cases, the constraint may apply to allfrequency bands and combinations of frequency bands supported by the UE.In some cases, the one or more constraints indicate that for a firstfrequency band, a TBS of a second modulation order is to be used forcommunications with the UE that are modulated at the first modulationorder; and for a second frequency band, a TBS of the first modulationorder is to be used for communications with the UE that are modulated atthe first modulation order. In some cases, the first frequency band is amillimeter wave frequency band, and the second frequency band is a lowerfrequency band than the first frequency band. Capability constraintcomponent 625 may be a processor (e.g., a transceiver processor, or aradio processor, or a receiver processor). The processor may be coupledwith memory and execute instructions stored in the memory that enablethe processor to perform or facilitate the capability constraintfeatures discussed herein.

Demodulation component 630 may demodulate the downlink transmissionaccording to the first modulation order. In some cases, the firstmodulation order is 256QAM and the second modulation order is 64QAM.Demodulation component 630 may be a processor (e.g., a transceiverprocessor, or a radio processor, or a receiver processor). The processormay be coupled with memory and execute instructions stored in the memorythat enable the processor to perform or facilitate the demodulationfeatures discussed herein. Decoding component 635 may decode thedemodulated downlink transmission based on the one or more constraintsof the UE. In some cases, decoding component 635 may decode thedemodulated downlink transmission based on a TBS associated with thesecond modulation order. The processor may implement some or all of theoperations of the decoding component 635. Decoding component 635 may bea processor (e.g., a transceiver processor, or a radio processor, or areceiver processor). The processor may be coupled with memory andexecute instructions stored in the memory that enable the processor toperform or facilitate the decoding features discussed herein.

TBS identification component 640 may identify a TBS associated with asecond modulation order based on the one or more constraints of the UE,the second modulation order being a lower modulation order than thefirst modulation order, and use the identified TBS for encoding ordecoding transmissions transmitted at the first modulation order. TBSidentification component 640 may be a processor (e.g., a transceiverprocessor, or a radio processor, or a receiver processor). The processormay be coupled with memory and execute instructions stored in the memorythat enable the processor to perform or facilitate the features TBSidentification features discussed herein.

Encoding component 645 may encode an uplink transmission using a datarate that is based on the one or more constraints of the UE forcommunications at the first modulation order. In some cases, TBS usedfor encoding may be associated with a second modulation order, based onthe one or more constraints of the UE, the second modulation order beinga lower modulation order than the first modulation order. Encodingcomponent 645 may be a processor (e.g., a transceiver processor, or aradio processor, or a receiver processor). The processor may be coupledwith memory and execute instructions stored in the memory that enablethe processor to perform or facilitate the encoding features discussedherein.

Modulation component 650 may modulate the uplink transmission accordingto the first modulation order. In some cases, the first modulation orderis 256QAM and the second modulation order is 64QAM. Modulation component650 may be a processor (e.g., a transceiver processor, or a radioprocessor, or a receiver processor). The processor may be coupled withmemory and execute instructions stored in the memory that enable theprocessor to perform or facilitate the modulation features discussedherein.

Rate matching component 655 may perform rate matching of a number ofbits modulated using the first modulation order within a TB to a numberof bits that can be sent in a resource allocation. Such rate matchingmay be based on a first rate matching associated with the firstmodulation order. In some cases, the rate matching may be based on asecond rate matching associated with a lower modulation order than thefirst modulation order. Rate matching component 655 may be a processor(e.g., a transceiver processor, or a radio processor, or a receiverprocessor). The processor may be coupled with memory and executeinstructions stored in the memory that enable the processor to performor facilitate the rate matching features discussed herein.

Soft buffer manager 660 may set a soft buffer size based on the firstmodulation order or set a soft buffer size based on a lower modulationorder than the first modulation order, based on the one or moreconstraints of the UE. Soft buffer manager 660 may be a processor (e.g.,a transceiver processor, or a radio processor, or a receiver processor).The processor may be coupled with memory and execute instructions storedin the memory that enable the processor to perform or facilitate thesoft buffer features discussed herein.

FIG. 7 shows a diagram of a system 700 including a device 705 thatsupports UE capability constraint indications for high order modulationin accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. Device 705 may bean example of or include the components of wireless device 405, wirelessdevice 505, or a UE 115 as described herein, e.g., with reference toFIGS. 4 and 5. Device 705 may include components for bi-directionalvoice and data communications including components for transmitting andreceiving communications, including UE communications manager 715,processor 720, memory 725, software 730, transceiver 735, antenna 740,and I/O controller 745. These components may be in electroniccommunication via one or more buses (e.g., bus 710). Device 705 maycommunicate wirelessly with one or more base stations 105.

Processor 720 may include an intelligent hardware device, (e.g., ageneral-purpose processor, a DSP, a central processing unit (CPU), amicrocontroller, an ASIC, an FPGA, a programmable logic device, adiscrete gate or transistor logic component, a discrete hardwarecomponent, or any combination thereof). In some cases, processor 720 maybe configured to operate a memory array using a memory controller. Inother cases, a memory controller may be integrated into processor 720.Processor 720 may be configured to execute computer-readableinstructions stored in a memory to perform various functions (e.g.,functions or tasks supporting UE capability constraint indications forhigh order modulation).

Memory 725 may include random access memory (RAM) and read only memory(ROM). The memory 725 may store computer-readable, computer-executablesoftware 730 including instructions that, when executed, cause theprocessor to perform various functions described herein. In some cases,the memory 725 may contain, among other things, a basic input/outputsystem (BIOS) which may control basic hardware or software operationsuch as the interaction with peripheral components or devices.

Software 730 may include code to implement aspects of the presentdisclosure, including code to support UE capability constraintindications for high order modulation. Software 730 may be stored in anon-transitory computer-readable medium such as system memory or othermemory. In some cases, the software 730 may not be directly executableby the processor but may cause a computer (e.g., when compiled andexecuted) to perform functions described herein.

Transceiver 735 may communicate bi-directionally, via one or moreantennas, wired, or wireless links as described herein. For example, thetransceiver 735 may represent a wireless transceiver and may communicatebi-directionally with another wireless transceiver. The transceiver 735may also include a modem to modulate the packets and provide themodulated packets to the antennas for transmission, and to demodulatepackets received from the antennas.

In some cases, the wireless device may include a single antenna 740.However, in some cases the device may have more than one antenna 740,which may be capable of concurrently transmitting or receiving multiplewireless transmissions.

I/O controller 745 may manage input and output signals for device 705.I/O controller 745 may also manage peripherals not integrated intodevice 705. In some cases, I/O controller 745 may represent a physicalconnection or port to an external peripheral. In some cases, I/Ocontroller 745 may utilize an operating system such as iOS®, ANDROID®,MS-DOS®, MS-WINDOWS®, OS/2®, UNIX®, LINUX®, or another known operatingsystem. In other cases, I/O controller 745 may represent or interactwith a modem, a keyboard, a mouse, a touchscreen, or a similar device.In some cases, I/O controller 745 may be implemented as part of aprocessor. In some cases, a user may interact with device 705 via I/Ocontroller 745 or via hardware components controlled by I/O controller745.

FIG. 8 shows a block diagram 800 of a wireless device 805 that supportsUE capability constraint indications for high order modulation inaccordance with aspects of the present disclosure. Wireless device 805may be an example of aspects of a base station 105 as described herein.Wireless device 805 may include receiver 810, base stationcommunications manager 815, and transmitter 820. Wireless device 805 mayalso include a processor. Each of these components may be incommunication with one another (e.g., via one or more buses).

Receiver 810 may receive information such as packets, user data, orcontrol information associated with various information channels (e.g.,control channels, data channels, and information related to UEcapability constraint indications for high order modulation, etc.).Information may be passed on to other components of the device. Thereceiver 810 may be an example of aspects of the transceiver 1135described with reference to FIG. 11. The receiver 810 may utilize asingle antenna or a set of antennas.

Receiver 810 may receive an uplink transmission that is modulated at thefirst modulation order.

Base station communications manager 815 may be an example of aspects ofthe base station communications manager 1115 described with reference toFIG. 11.

Base station communications manager 815 and/or at least some of itsvarious sub-components may be implemented in hardware, software executedby a processor, firmware, or any combination thereof. If implemented insoftware executed by a processor, the functions of the base stationcommunications manager 815 and/or at least some of its varioussub-components may be executed by a general-purpose processor, a DSP, anASIC, an FPGA or other programmable logic device, discrete gate ortransistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combinationthereof designed to perform the functions described in the presentdisclosure. The base station communications manager 815 and/or at leastsome of its various sub-components may be physically located at variouspositions, including being distributed such that portions of functionsare implemented at different physical locations by one or more physicaldevices. In some examples, base station communications manager 815and/or at least some of its various sub-components may be a separate anddistinct component in accordance with various aspects of the presentdisclosure. In other examples, base station communications manager 815and/or at least some of its various sub-components may be combined withone or more other hardware components, including but not limited to anI/O component, a transceiver, a network server, another computingdevice, one or more other components described in the presentdisclosure, or a combination thereof in accordance with various aspectsof the present disclosure.

Base station communications manager 815 may receive, from a UE, a UEradio access capability parameter that indicates a capability of the UEto support communications that are modulated at a first modulation orderand one or more constraints of the UE for communications that aremodulated at the first modulation order, encode a downlink transmissionusing a data rate that is based on the one or more constraints of the UEfor communications at the first modulation order, and modulate thedownlink transmission according to the first modulation order.

Transmitter 820 may transmit signals generated by other components ofthe device. In some examples, the transmitter 820 may be collocated witha receiver 810 in a transceiver module. For example, the transmitter 820may be an example of aspects of the transceiver 1135 described withreference to FIG. 11. The transmitter 820 may utilize a single antennaor a set of antennas. Transmitter 820 may transmit the downlinktransmission to the UE.

FIG. 9 shows a block diagram 900 of a wireless device 905 that supportsUE capability constraint indications for high order modulation inaccordance with aspects of the present disclosure. Wireless device 905may be an example of aspects of a wireless device 805 or a base station105 as described with reference to FIG. 8. Wireless device 905 mayinclude receiver 910, base station communications manager 915, andtransmitter 920. Wireless device 905 may also include a processor. Eachof these components may be in communication with one another (e.g., viaone or more buses).

Receiver 910 may receive information such as packets, user data, orcontrol information associated with various information channels (e.g.,control channels, data channels, and information related to UEcapability constraint indications for high order modulation, etc.).Information may be passed on to other components of the device. Thereceiver 910 may be an example of aspects of the transceiver 1135described with reference to FIG. 11. The receiver 910 may utilize asingle antenna or a set of antennas.

Base station communications manager 915 may be an example of aspects ofthe base station communications manager 1115 described with reference toFIG. 11. Base station communications manager 915 may also includecapability identification component 925, encoding component 930, andmodulation component 935. Base station communications manager 915 may bea processor (e.g., a transceiver processor, or a radio processor, or areceiver processor). The processor may be coupled with memory andexecute instructions stored in the memory that enable the processor toperform or facilitate the base station features discussed herein.

Capability identification component 925 may receive, from a UE, a UEradio access capability parameter that indicates a capability of the UEto support communications that are modulated at a first modulation orderand one or more constraints of the UE for communications that aremodulated at the first modulation order. Capability identificationcomponent 925 may be a processor (e.g., a transceiver processor, or aradio processor, or a receiver processor). The processor may be coupledwith memory and execute instructions stored in the memory that enablethe processor to perform or facilitate the capability identificationfeatures discussed herein.

Encoding component 930 may encode a downlink transmission using a datarate that is based on the one or more constraints of the UE forcommunications at the first modulation order. In some cases, thedownlink transmission may be encoded based on a first TBS associatedwith a second modulation order. Encoding component 930 may be aprocessor (e.g., a transceiver processor, or a radio processor, or areceiver processor). The processor may be coupled with memory andexecute instructions stored in the memory that enable the processor toperform or facilitate the encoding features discussed herein.

Modulation component 935 may modulate the downlink transmissionaccording to the first modulation order. In some cases, the firstmodulation order is 256QAM and the second modulation order is 64QAM.Modulation component 935 may be a processor (e.g., a transceiverprocessor, or a radio processor, or a receiver processor). The processormay be coupled with memory and execute instructions stored in the memorythat enable the processor to perform or facilitate the modulationfeatures discussed herein.

Transmitter 920 may transmit signals generated by other components ofthe device. In some examples, the transmitter 920 may be collocated witha receiver 910 in a transceiver module. For example, the transmitter 920may be an example of aspects of the transceiver 1135 described withreference to FIG. 11. The transmitter 920 may utilize a single antennaor a set of antennas.

FIG. 10 shows a block diagram 1000 of a base station communicationsmanager 1015 that supports UE capability constraint indications for highorder modulation in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.The base station communications manager 1015 may be an example ofaspects of a base station communications manager 1115 described withreference to FIGS. 8, 9, and 11. The base station communications manager1015 may include capability identification component 1020, encodingcomponent 1025, modulation component 1030, TBS identification component1035, demodulation component 1040, decoding component 1045, andcapability constraint component 1050. Each of these modules maycommunicate, directly or indirectly, with one another (e.g., via one ormore buses).

Capability identification component 1020 may receive, from a UE, a UEradio access capability parameter that indicates a capability of the UEto support communications that are modulated at a first modulation orderand one or more constraints of the UE for communications that aremodulated at the first modulation order. Capability identificationcomponent 1020 may be a processor (e.g., a transceiver processor, or aradio processor, or a receiver processor). The processor may be coupledwith memory and execute instructions stored in the memory that enablethe processor to perform or facilitate the capability identificationfeatures discussed herein.

Encoding component 1025 may encode a downlink transmission using a datarate that is based on the one or more constraints of the UE forcommunications at the first modulation order. In some cases, thedownlink transmission may be encoded based on a first TBS associatedwith a second modulation order. Encoding component 1025 may be aprocessor (e.g., a transceiver processor, or a radio processor, or areceiver processor). The processor may be coupled with memory andexecute instructions stored in the memory that enable the processor toperform or facilitate the encoding features discussed herein.

Modulation component 1030 may modulate the downlink transmissionaccording to the first modulation order. In some cases, the firstmodulation order is 256QAM and the second modulation order is 64QAM.Modulation component 1030 may be a processor (e.g., a transceiverprocessor, or a radio processor, or a receiver processor). The processormay be coupled with memory and execute instructions stored in the memorythat enable the processor to perform or facilitate the modulationfeatures discussed herein.

TBS identification component 1035 may identify a first TBS associatedwith a second modulation order based on the one or more constraints ofthe UE, the second modulation order being a lower modulation order thanthe first modulation order. In some cases, an uplink transmission may bedecoded based on identifying a first TBS associated with a secondmodulation order based on the one or more constraints of the UE, thesecond modulation order being a lower modulation order than the firstmodulation order. TBS identification component 1035 may be a processor(e.g., a transceiver processor, or a radio processor, or a receiverprocessor). The processor may be coupled with memory and executeinstructions stored in the memory that enable the processor to performor facilitate the features TBS identification features discussed herein.

Demodulation component 1040 may demodulate the uplink transmissionaccording to the first modulation order. Demodulation component 1040 maybe a processor (e.g., a transceiver processor, or a radio processor, ora receiver processor). The processor may be coupled with memory andexecute instructions stored in the memory that enable the processor toperform or facilitate the demodulation features discussed herein.

Decoding component 1045 may decode the demodulated uplink transmissionbased on the one or more constraints of the UE and decode thedemodulated uplink transmission based on the first TBS. Decodingcomponent 1045 may be a processor (e.g., a transceiver processor, or aradio processor, or a receiver processor). The processor may be coupledwith memory and execute instructions stored in the memory that enablethe processor to perform or facilitate the decoding features discussedherein.

Capability constraint component 1050 may identify, such as based on acapability constraint provided with a UE capability, one or morecapability constraints. In some cases, the one or more constraintsindicate that a transport block size associated with a second modulationorder is to be used for communications with the UE that are modulated atthe first modulation order. In some cases, the one or more constraintsindicate that, for a first frequency band, a TBS of a second modulationorder is to be used for communications with the UE that are modulated atthe first modulation order; and for a second frequency band, a TBS ofthe first modulation order is to be used for communications with the UEthat are modulated at the first modulation order. In some cases, thefirst frequency band is a millimeter wave frequency band, and the secondfrequency band is a lower frequency band than the first frequency band.Capability constraint component 1050 may be a processor (e.g., atransceiver processor, or a radio processor, or a receiver processor).The processor may be coupled with memory and execute instructions storedin the memory that enable the processor to perform or facilitate thecapability constraint features discussed herein.

FIG. 11 shows a diagram of a system 1100 including a device 1105 thatsupports UE capability constraint indications for high order modulationin accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. Device 1105 may bean example of or include the components of base station 105 as describedherein, e.g., with reference to FIG. 1. Device 1105 may includecomponents for bi-directional voice and data communications includingcomponents for transmitting and receiving communications, including basestation communications manager 1115, processor 1120, memory 1125,software 1130, transceiver 1135, antenna 1140, network communicationsmanager 1145, and inter-station communications manager 1150. Thesecomponents may be in electronic communication via one or more buses(e.g., bus 1110). Device 1105 may communicate wirelessly with one ormore UEs 115.

Processor 1120 may include an intelligent hardware device, (e.g., ageneral-purpose processor, a DSP, a CPU, a microcontroller, an ASIC, anFPGA, a programmable logic device, a discrete gate or transistor logiccomponent, a discrete hardware component, or any combination thereof).In some cases, processor 1120 may be configured to operate a memoryarray using a memory controller. In other cases, a memory controller maybe integrated into processor 1120. Processor 1120 may be configured toexecute computer-readable instructions stored in a memory to performvarious functions (e.g., functions or tasks supporting UE capabilityconstraint indications for high order modulation).

Memory 1125 may include RAM and ROM. The memory 1125 may storecomputer-readable, computer-executable software 1130 includinginstructions that, when executed, cause the processor to perform variousfunctions described herein. In some cases, the memory 1125 may contain,among other things, a BIOS which may control basic hardware or softwareoperation such as the interaction with peripheral components or devices.

Software 1130 may include code to implement aspects of the presentdisclosure, including code to support UE capability constraintindications for high order modulation. Software 1130 may be stored in anon-transitory computer-readable medium such as system memory or othermemory. In some cases, the software 1130 may not be directly executableby the processor but may cause a computer (e.g., when compiled andexecuted) to perform functions described herein.

Transceiver 1135 may communicate bi-directionally, via one or moreantennas, wired, or wireless links as described herein. For example, thetransceiver 1135 may represent a wireless transceiver and maycommunicate bi-directionally with another wireless transceiver. Thetransceiver 1135 may also include a modem to modulate the packets andprovide the modulated packets to the antennas for transmission, and todemodulate packets received from the antennas.

In some cases, the wireless device may include a single antenna 1140.However, in some cases the device may have more than one antenna 1140,which may be capable of concurrently transmitting or receiving multiplewireless transmissions.

Network communications manager 1145 may manage communications with thecore network (e.g., via one or more wired backhaul links). For example,the network communications manager 1145 may manage the transfer of datacommunications for client devices, such as one or more UEs 115.

Inter-station communications manager 1150 may manage communications withother base station 105, and may include a controller or scheduler forcontrolling communications with UEs 115 in cooperation with other basestations 105. For example, the inter-station communications manager 1150may coordinate scheduling for transmissions to UEs 115 for variousinterference mitigation techniques such as beamforming or jointtransmission. In some examples, inter-station communications manager1150 may provide an X2 interface within an Long Term Evolution(LTE)/LTE-A wireless communication network technology to providecommunication between base stations 105.

FIG. 12 shows a flowchart illustrating a method 1200 for UE capabilityconstraint indications for high order modulation in accordance withaspects of the present disclosure. The method 1200 may method ofwireless communication. The operations of method 1200 may be implementedby a UE 115 or its components as described herein. For example, theoperations of method 1200 may be performed by a UE communicationsmanager as described with reference to FIGS. 4 through 7. In someexamples, a UE 115 may execute a set of codes to control the functionalelements of the device to perform the functions described herein.Additionally or alternatively, the UE 115 may perform aspects of thefunctions described herein using special-purpose hardware.

At block 1205 the UE 115 may identify a capability of a UE to supportcommunications that are modulated at a first modulation order. Theoperations of block 1205 may be performed according to the methodsdescribed herein. In certain examples, aspects of the operations ofblock 1205 may be performed by a capability identification component asdescribed with reference to FIGS. 4 through 7.

At block 1210 the UE 115 may determine one or more constraints of the UEfor communications that are modulated at the first modulation order. Theoperations of block 1210 may be performed according to the methodsdescribed herein. In certain examples, aspects of the operations ofblock 1210 may be performed by a capability constraint component asdescribed with reference to FIGS. 4 through 7.

At block 1215 the UE 115 may set a UE radio access capability parameterthat indicates the first modulation order is supported by the UE andthat indicates the one or more constraints of the UE for communicationsmodulated at the first modulation order. The operations of block 1215may be performed according to the methods described herein. In certainexamples, aspects of the operations of block 1215 may be performed by acapability identification component as described with reference to FIGS.4 through 7.

At block 1220 the UE 115 may transmit the UE radio access capabilityparameter to a base station. The operations of block 1220 may beperformed according to the methods described herein. In certainexamples, aspects of the operations of block 1220 may be performed by atransmitter as described with reference to FIGS. 4 through 7.

FIG. 13 shows a flowchart illustrating a method 1300 for UE capabilityconstraint indications for high order modulation in accordance withaspects of the present disclosure. The method 1300 may method ofwireless communication. The operations of method 1300 may be implementedby a UE 115 or its components as described herein. For example, theoperations of method 1300 may be performed by a UE communicationsmanager as described with reference to FIGS. 4 through 7. In someexamples, a UE 115 may execute a set of codes to control the functionalelements of the device to perform the functions described herein.Additionally or alternatively, the UE 115 may perform aspects of thefunctions described herein using special-purpose hardware.

At block 1305 the UE 115 may identify a capability of a UE to supportcommunications that are modulated at a first modulation order. Theoperations of block 1305 may be performed according to the methodsdescribed herein. In certain examples, aspects of the operations ofblock 1305 may be performed by a capability identification component asdescribed with reference to FIGS. 4 through 7.

At block 1310 the UE 115 may determine one or more constraints of the UEfor communications that are modulated at the first modulation order. Theoperations of block 1310 may be performed according to the methodsdescribed herein. In certain examples, aspects of the operations ofblock 1310 may be performed by a capability constraint component asdescribed with reference to FIGS. 4 through 7.

At block 1315 the UE 115 may set a UE radio access capability parameterthat indicates the first modulation order is supported by the UE andthat indicates the one or more constraints of the UE for communicationsmodulated at the first modulation order. The operations of block 1315may be performed according to the methods described herein. In certainexamples, aspects of the operations of block 1315 may be performed by acapability identification component as described with reference to FIGS.4 through 7.

At block 1320 the UE 115 may transmit the UE radio access capabilityparameter to a base station. The operations of block 1320 may beperformed according to the methods described herein. In certainexamples, aspects of the operations of block 1320 may be performed by atransmitter as described with reference to FIGS. 4 through 7.

At block 1325 the UE 115 may receive a downlink transmission that ismodulated at the first modulation order. The operations of block 1325may be performed according to the methods described herein. In certainexamples, aspects of the operations of block 1325 may be performed by areceiver as described with reference to FIGS. 4 through 7.

At block 1330 the UE 115 may demodulate the downlink transmissionaccording to the first modulation order. The operations of block 1330may be performed according to the methods described herein. In certainexamples, aspects of the operations of block 1330 may be performed by ademodulation component as described with reference to FIGS. 4 through 7.

At block 1335 the UE 115 may decode the demodulated downlinktransmission based at least in part on the one or more constraints ofthe UE. The operations of block 1335 may be performed according to themethods described herein. In certain examples, aspects of the operationsof block 1335 may be performed by a decoding component as described withreference to FIGS. 4 through 7.

FIG. 14 shows a flowchart illustrating a method 1400 for UE capabilityconstraint indications for high order modulation in accordance withaspects of the present disclosure. The method 1400 may method ofwireless communication. The operations of method 1400 may be implementedby a UE 115 or its components as described herein. For example, theoperations of method 1400 may be performed by a UE communicationsmanager as described with reference to FIGS. 4 through 7. In someexamples, a UE 115 may execute a set of codes to control the functionalelements of the device to perform the functions described herein.Additionally or alternatively, the UE 115 may perform aspects of thefunctions described herein using special-purpose hardware.

At block 1405 the UE 115 may identify a capability of a UE to supportcommunications that are modulated at a first modulation order. Theoperations of block 1405 may be performed according to the methodsdescribed herein. In certain examples, aspects of the operations ofblock 1405 may be performed by a capability identification component asdescribed with reference to FIGS. 4 through 7.

At block 1410 the UE 115 may determine one or more constraints of the UEfor communications that are modulated at the first modulation order. Theoperations of block 1410 may be performed according to the methodsdescribed herein. In certain examples, aspects of the operations ofblock 1410 may be performed by a capability constraint component asdescribed with reference to FIGS. 4 through 7.

At block 1415 the UE 115 may set a UE radio access capability parameterthat indicates the first modulation order is supported by the UE andthat indicates the one or more constraints of the UE for communicationsmodulated at the first modulation order. The operations of block 1415may be performed according to the methods described herein. In certainexamples, aspects of the operations of block 1415 may be performed by acapability identification component as described with reference to FIGS.4 through 7.

At block 1420 the UE 115 may transmit the UE radio access capabilityparameter to a base station. The operations of block 1420 may beperformed according to the methods described herein. In certainexamples, aspects of the operations of block 1420 may be performed by atransmitter as described with reference to FIGS. 4 through 7.

At block 1425 the UE 115 may encode an uplink transmission using a datarate that is based at least in part on the one or more constraints ofthe UE for communications at the first modulation order. The operationsof block 1425 may be performed according to the methods describedherein. In certain examples, aspects of the operations of block 1425 maybe performed by a encoding component as described with reference toFIGS. 4 through 7.

At block 1430 the UE 115 may modulate the uplink transmission accordingto the first modulation order. The operations of block 1430 may beperformed according to the methods described herein. In certainexamples, aspects of the operations of block 1430 may be performed by amodulation component as described with reference to FIGS. 4 through 7.

At block 1435 the UE 115 may transmit the uplink transmission to thebase station. The operations of block 1435 may be performed according tothe methods described herein. In certain examples, aspects of theoperations of block 1435 may be performed by a transmitter as describedwith reference to FIGS. 4 through 7.

FIG. 15 shows a flowchart illustrating a method 1500 for UE capabilityconstraint indications for high order modulation in accordance withaspects of the present disclosure. The method 1500 may method ofwireless communication. The operations of method 1500 may be implementedby a base station 105 or its components as described herein. Forexample, the operations of method 1500 may be performed by a basestation communications manager as described with reference to FIGS. 8through 11. In some examples, a base station 105 may execute a set ofcodes to control the functional elements of the device to perform thefunctions described herein. Additionally or alternatively, the basestation 105 may perform aspects of the functions described herein usingspecial-purpose hardware.

At block 1505 the base station 105 may receive, from a UE, a UE radioaccess capability parameter that indicates a capability of the UE tosupport communications that are modulated at a first modulation orderand one or more constraints of the UE for communications that aremodulated at the first modulation order. The operations of block 1505may be performed according to the methods described herein. In certainexamples, aspects of the operations of block 1505 may be performed by acapability identification component as described with reference to FIGS.8 through 11.

At block 1510 the base station 105 may encode a downlink transmissionusing a data rate that is based at least in part on the one or moreconstraints of the UE for communications at the first modulation order.The operations of block 1510 may be performed according to the methodsdescribed herein. In certain examples, aspects of the operations ofblock 1510 may be performed by a encoding component as described withreference to FIGS. 8 through 11.

At block 1515 the base station 105 may modulate the downlinktransmission according to the first modulation order. The operations ofblock 1515 may be performed according to the methods described herein.In certain examples, aspects of the operations of block 1515 may beperformed by a modulation component as described with reference to FIGS.8 through 11.

At block 1520 the base station 105 may transmit the downlinktransmission to the UE. The operations of block 1520 may be performedaccording to the methods described herein. In certain examples, aspectsof the operations of block 1520 may be performed by a transmitter asdescribed with reference to FIGS. 8 through 11.

FIG. 16 shows a flowchart illustrating a method 1600 for UE capabilityconstraint indications for high order modulation in accordance withaspects of the present disclosure. The method 1600 may method ofwireless communication. The operations of method 1600 may be implementedby a base station 105 or its components as described herein. Forexample, the operations of method 1600 may be performed by a basestation communications manager as described with reference to FIGS. 8through 11. In some examples, a base station 105 may execute a set ofcodes to control the functional elements of the device to perform thefunctions described herein. Additionally or alternatively, the basestation 105 may perform aspects of the functions described herein usingspecial-purpose hardware.

At block 1605 the base station 105 may receive, from a UE, a UE radioaccess capability parameter that indicates a capability of the UE tosupport communications that are modulated at a first modulation orderand one or more constraints of the UE for communications that aremodulated at the first modulation order. The operations of block 1605may be performed according to the methods described herein. In certainexamples, aspects of the operations of block 1605 may be performed by acapability identification component as described with reference to FIGS.8 through 11.

At block 1610 the base station 105 may encode a downlink transmissionusing a data rate that is based at least in part on the one or moreconstraints of the UE for communications at the first modulation order.The operations of block 1610 may be performed according to the methodsdescribed herein. In certain examples, aspects of the operations ofblock 1610 may be performed by a encoding component as described withreference to FIGS. 8 through 11.

At block 1615 the base station 105 may modulate the downlinktransmission according to the first modulation order. The operations ofblock 1615 may be performed according to the methods described herein.In certain examples, aspects of the operations of block 1615 may beperformed by a modulation component as described with reference to FIGS.8 through 11.

At block 1620 the base station 105 may transmit the downlinktransmission to the UE. The operations of block 1620 may be performedaccording to the methods described herein. In certain examples, aspectsof the operations of block 1620 may be performed by a transmitter asdescribed with reference to FIGS. 8 through 11.

FIG. 17 shows a flowchart illustrating a method 1700 for UE capabilityconstraint indications for high order modulation in accordance withaspects of the present disclosure. The method 1700 may be a method ofwireless communication. The operations of method 1700 may be implementedby a base station 105 or its components as described herein. Forexample, the operations of method 1700 may be performed by a basestation communications manager as described with reference to FIGS. 8through 11. In some examples, a base station 105 may execute a set ofcodes to control the functional elements of the device to perform thefunctions described herein. Additionally or alternatively, the basestation 105 may perform aspects of the functions described herein usingspecial-purpose hardware.

At block 1705 the base station 105 may receive, from a UE, a UE radioaccess capability parameter that indicates a capability of the UE tosupport communications that are modulated at a first modulation orderand one or more constraints of the UE for communications that aremodulated at the first modulation order. The operations of block 1705may be performed according to the methods described herein. In certainexamples, aspects of the operations of block 1705 may be performed by acapability identification component as described with reference to FIGS.8 through 11.

At block 1710 the base station 105 may encode a downlink transmissionusing a data rate that is based at least in part on the one or moreconstraints of the UE for communications at the first modulation order.The operations of block 1710 may be performed according to the methodsdescribed herein. In certain examples, aspects of the operations ofblock 1710 may be performed by a encoding component as described withreference to FIGS. 8 through 11.

At block 1715 the base station 105 may modulate the downlinktransmission according to the first modulation order. The operations ofblock 1715 may be performed according to the methods described herein.In certain examples, aspects of the operations of block 1715 may beperformed by a modulation component as described with reference to FIGS.8 through 11.

At block 1720 the base station 105 may transmit the downlinktransmission to the UE. The operations of block 1720 may be performedaccording to the methods described herein. In certain examples, aspectsof the operations of block 1720 may be performed by a transmitter asdescribed with reference to FIGS. 8 through 11.

At block 1725 the base station 105 may receive an uplink transmissionthat is modulated at the first modulation order. The operations of block1725 may be performed according to the methods described herein. Incertain examples, aspects of the operations of block 1725 may beperformed by a receiver as described with reference to FIGS. 8 through11.

At block 1730 the base station 105 may demodulate the uplinktransmission according to the first modulation order. The operations ofblock 1730 may be performed according to the methods described herein.In certain examples, aspects of the operations of block 1730 may beperformed by a demodulation component as described with reference toFIGS. 8 through 11.

At block 1735 the base station 105 may decode the demodulated uplinktransmission based at least in part on the one or more constraints ofthe UE. The operations of block 1735 may be performed according to themethods described herein. In certain examples, aspects of the operationsof block 1735 may be performed by a decoding component as described withreference to FIGS. 8 through 11.

It should be noted that the methods described herein describe possibleimplementations, and that the operations and the steps may be rearrangedor otherwise modified and that other implementations are possible.Further, aspects from two or more of the methods may be combined.

Techniques described herein may be used for various wirelesscommunications systems such as code division multiple access (CDMA),time division multiple access (TDMA), frequency division multiple access(FDMA), orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA), singlecarrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA), and other systems.A CDMA system may implement a radio technology such as CDMA2000,Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (UTRA), etc. CDMA2000 covers IS-2000,IS-95, and IS-856 standards. IS-2000 Releases may be commonly referredto as CDMA2000 1×, 1×, etc. IS-856 (TIA-856) is commonly referred to asCDMA2000 1×EV-DO, High Rate Packet Data (HRPD), etc. UTRA includesWideband CDMA (WCDMA) and other variants of CDMA. A TDMA system mayimplement a radio technology such as Global System for MobileCommunications (GSM).

An OFDMA system may implement a radio technology such as Ultra MobileBroadband (UMB), Evolved UTRA (E-UTRA), Institute of Electrical andElectronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 (Wi-Fi), IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX), IEEE802.20, Flash-OFDM, etc. UTRA and E-UTRA are part of Universal MobileTelecommunications System (UMTS). LTE and LTE-A are releases of UMTSthat use E-UTRA. UTRA, E-UTRA, UMTS, LTE, LTE-A, NR, and GSM aredescribed in documents from the organization named “3rd GenerationPartnership Project” (3GPP). CDMA2000 and UMB are described in documentsfrom an organization named “3rd Generation Partnership Project 2”(3GPP2). The techniques described herein may be used for the systems andradio technologies mentioned above as well as other systems and radiotechnologies. While aspects of an LTE or an NR system may be describedfor purposes of example, and LTE or NR terminology may be used in muchof the description, the techniques described herein are applicablebeyond LTE or NR applications.

A macro cell generally covers a relatively large geographic area (e.g.,several kilometers in radius) and may allow unrestricted access by UEs115 with service subscriptions with the network provider. A small cellmay be associated with a lower-powered base station 105, as comparedwith a macro cell, and a small cell may operate in the same or different(e.g., licensed, unlicensed, etc.) frequency bands as macro cells. Smallcells may include pico cells, femto cells, and micro cells according tovarious examples. A pico cell, for example, may cover a small geographicarea and may allow unrestricted access by UEs 115 with servicesubscriptions with the network provider. A femto cell may also cover asmall geographic area (e.g., a home) and may provide restricted accessby UEs 115 having an association with the femto cell (e.g., UEs 115 in aclosed subscriber group (CSG), UEs 115 for users in the home, and thelike). An eNB for a macro cell may be referred to as a macro eNB. An eNBfor a small cell may be referred to as a small cell eNB, a pico eNB, afemto eNB, or a home eNB. An eNB may support one or multiple (e.g., two,three, four, and the like) cells, and may also support communicationsusing one or multiple component carriers.

The wireless communications system 100 or systems described herein maysupport synchronous or asynchronous operation. For synchronousoperation, the base stations 105 may have similar frame timing, andtransmissions from different base stations 105 may be approximatelyaligned in time. For asynchronous operation, the base stations 105 mayhave different frame timing, and transmissions from different basestations 105 may not be aligned in time. The techniques described hereinmay be used for either synchronous or asynchronous operations.

Information and signals described herein may be represented using any ofa variety of different technologies and techniques. For example, data,instructions, commands, information, signals, bits, symbols, and chipsthat may be referenced throughout the above description may berepresented by voltages, currents, electromagnetic waves, magneticfields or particles, optical fields or particles, or any combinationthereof.

The various illustrative blocks and modules described in connection withthe disclosure herein may be implemented or performed with ageneral-purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), anapplication-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field-programmablegate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device (PLD), discretegate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or anycombination thereof designed to perform the functions described herein.A general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but in thealternative, the processor may be any conventional processor,controller, microcontroller, or state machine. A processor may also beimplemented as a combination of computing devices (e.g., a combinationof a DSP and a microprocessor, multiple microprocessors, one or moremicroprocessors in conjunction with a DSP core, or any other suchconfiguration).

The functions described herein may be implemented in hardware, softwareexecuted by a processor, firmware, or any combination thereof. Ifimplemented in software executed by a processor, the functions may bestored on or transmitted over as one or more instructions or code on acomputer-readable medium. Other examples and implementations are withinthe scope of the disclosure and appended claims. For example, due to thenature of software, functions described herein can be implemented usingsoftware executed by a processor, hardware, firmware, hardwiring, orcombinations of any of these. Features implementing functions may alsobe physically located at various positions, including being distributedsuch that portions of functions are implemented at different physicallocations.

Computer-readable media includes both non-transitory computer storagemedia and communication media including any medium that facilitatestransfer of a computer program from one place to another. Anon-transitory storage medium may be any available medium that can beaccessed by a general purpose or special purpose computer. By way ofexample, and not limitation, non-transitory computer-readable media maycomprise random-access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM),electrically erasable programmable read only memory (EEPROM), flashmemory, compact disk (CD) ROM or other optical disk storage, magneticdisk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any othernon-transitory medium that can be used to carry or store desired programcode means in the form of instructions or data structures and that canbe accessed by a general-purpose or special-purpose computer, or ageneral-purpose or special-purpose processor. Also, any connection isproperly termed a computer-readable medium. For example, if the softwareis transmitted from a website, server, or other remote source using acoaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, digital subscriber line(DSL), or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave,then the coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, DSL, orwireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave areincluded in the definition of medium. Disk and disc, as used herein,include CD, laser disc, optical disc, digital versatile disc (DVD),floppy disk and Blu-ray disc where disks usually reproduce datamagnetically, while discs reproduce data optically with lasers.Combinations of the above are also included within the scope ofcomputer-readable media.

As used herein, including in the claims, “or” as used in a list of items(e.g., a list of items prefaced by a phrase such as “at least one of” or“one or more of”) indicates an inclusive list such that, for example, alist of at least one of A, B, or C means A or B or C or AB or AC or BCor ABC (i.e., A and B and C). Also, as used herein, the phrase “basedon” shall not be construed as a reference to a closed set of conditions.For example, an exemplary step that is described as “based on conditionA” may be based on both a condition A and a condition B withoutdeparting from the scope of the present disclosure. In other words, asused herein, the phrase “based on” shall be construed in the same manneras the phrase “based at least in part on.”

In the appended figures, similar components or features may have thesame reference label. Further, various components of the same type maybe distinguished by following the reference label by a dash and a secondlabel that distinguishes among the similar components. If just the firstreference label is used in the specification, the description isapplicable to any one of the similar components having the same firstreference label irrespective of the second reference label, or othersubsequent reference label.

The description set forth herein, in connection with the appendeddrawings, describes example configurations and does not represent allthe examples that may be implemented or that are within the scope of theclaims. The term “exemplary” used herein means “serving as an example,instance, or illustration,” and not “preferred” or “advantageous overother examples.” The detailed description includes specific details forthe purpose of providing an understanding of the described techniques.These techniques, however, may be practiced without these specificdetails. In some instances, well-known structures and devices are shownin block diagram form in order to avoid obscuring the concepts of thedescribed examples.

The description herein is provided to enable a person skilled in the artto make or use the disclosure. Various modifications to the disclosurewill be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the genericprinciples defined herein may be applied to other variations withoutdeparting from the scope of the disclosure. Thus, the disclosure is notlimited to the examples and designs described herein, but is to beaccorded the broadest scope consistent with the principles and novelfeatures disclosed herein.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for wireless communication at a userequipment (UE), comprising: identifying one or more constraints of theUE for communications modulated at a first modulation order associatedwith a first data rate, wherein the one or more constraints indicate asecond modulation order associated with a second data rate smaller thanthe first data rate, the second modulation order being a lowermodulation order than the first modulation order; transmitting, to abase station, a UE radio access capability parameter that indicates theone or more constraints of the UE for the communications modulated atthe first modulation order; and communicating with the base stationusing the first modulation order and the second data rate associatedwith the second modulation order based at least in part on thetransmitted at least one UE radio access capability parameter.
 2. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising: transmitting a second UE radioaccess capability parameter that indicates that the UE supports thecommunications modulated at the first modulation order.
 3. The method ofclaim 1, wherein transmitting the UE radio access capability parametercomprises: transmitting the UE radio access capability parameter thatindicates the second modulation order.
 4. The method of claim 1, whereintransmitting the at least one UE radio access capability parametercomprises: transmitting the at least one UE radio access capabilityparameter that indicates the one or more constraints of the UE on one ormore frequency bands.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein transmitting theat least one UE radio access capability parameter comprises:transmitting the at least one UE radio access capability parameter thatindicates the one or more constraints of the UE on one or morecombinations of frequency bands.
 6. The method of claim 1, whereincommunicating with the base station comprises: receiving a downlinktransmission that is modulated at the first modulation order;demodulating the downlink transmission according to the first modulationorder; and decoding the demodulated downlink transmission using thesecond data rate associated with the second modulation order.
 7. Themethod of claim 1, wherein communicating with the base stationcomprises: encoding an uplink transmission using the second data rateassociated with the second modulation order; modulating the encodeduplink transmission using the first modulation order; and transmittingthe modulated and encoded uplink transmission to the base station. 8.The method of claim 1, wherein the first modulation order is 256QAM andthe second modulation order is 64QAM.
 9. The method of claim 1, whereinthe second data rate is a maximum data rate supported by the UE that isdetermined in accordance with the second modulation order.
 10. Anapparatus for wireless communication at a user equipment (UE),comprising: a processor, memory coupled with the processor, andinstructions stored in the memory and executable by the processor tocause the apparatus to: identify one or more constraints of the UE forcommunications modulated at a first modulation order associated with afirst data rate, wherein the one or more constraints indicate a secondmodulation order associated with a second data rate smaller than thefirst data rate, the second modulation order being a lower modulationorder than the first modulation order; transmit, to a base station, a UEradio access capability parameter that indicates the one or moreconstraints of the UE for the communications modulated at the firstmodulation order; and communicate with the base station using the firstmodulation order and the second data rate associated with the secondmodulation order based at least in part on the transmitted at least oneUE radio access capability parameter.
 11. The apparatus of claim 10,wherein the instructions are further executable by the processor tocause the apparatus to: transmit a second UE radio access capabilityparameter that indicates that the UE supports the communicationsmodulated at the first modulation order.
 12. The apparatus of claim 10,wherein the instructions to transmit the UE radio access capabilityparameter are executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to:transmit the UE radio access capability parameter that indicates thesecond modulation order.
 13. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein theinstructions to transmit the at least one UE radio access capabilityparameter are executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to:transmit the at least one UE radio access capability parameter thatindicates the one or more constraints of the UE on one or more frequencybands.
 14. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the instructions totransmit the at least one UE radio access capability parameter areexecutable by the processor to cause the apparatus to: transmit the atleast one UE radio access capability parameter that indicates the one ormore constraints of the UE on one or more combinations of frequencybands.
 15. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the instructions tocommunicate with the base station are executable by the processor tocause the apparatus to: receive a downlink transmission that ismodulated at the first modulation order; demodulate the downlinktransmission according to the first modulation order; and decode thedemodulated downlink transmission using the second data rate associatedwith the second modulation order.
 16. The apparatus of claim 10, whereinthe instructions to communicate with the base station are executable bythe processor to cause the apparatus to: encode an uplink transmissionusing the second data rate associated with the second modulation order;modulate the encoded uplink transmission using the first modulationorder; and transmit the modulated and encoded uplink transmission to thebase station.
 17. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the firstmodulation order is 256QAM and the second modulation order is 64QAM. 18.An apparatus for wireless communication at a user equipment (UE),comprising: means for identifying one or more constraints of the UE forcommunications modulated at a first modulation order associated with afirst data rate, wherein the one or more constraints indicate a secondmodulation order associated with a second data rate smaller than thefirst data rate, the second modulation order being a lower modulationorder than the first modulation order; means for transmitting, to a basestation, a UE radio access capability parameter that indicates the oneor more constraints of the UE for the communications modulated at thefirst modulation order; and means for communicating with the basestation using the first modulation order and the second data rateassociated with the second modulation order based at least in part onthe transmitted at least one UE radio access capability parameter. 19.The apparatus of claim 18, further comprising: means for transmitting asecond UE radio access capability parameter that indicates that the UEsupports the communications modulated at the first modulation order. 20.The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the means for transmitting the UEradio access capability parameter comprises: means for transmitting theUE radio access capability parameter that indicates the secondmodulation order.